To first unearth what classifies as post-modernity, let us first establish the former: modernity. Modernity (widely speaking) accepts that knowledge exists to counter already-existing knowledge that fits into societies ‘bigger picture’. More clearly put, art exists to “exploit master narratives as tools to liberate individuals from tradition” (Arens, 1991, p. 19), it looks for cracks in the system to forge new styles, new approaches. Post-modernity on the other hand regards art as being “concerned not with the formal purity of artistic mediums, but with textual impurity” (Arens, 1991, p. 19) the interconnections of power and knowledge in social representations. Post-modernity accepts that all ‘new’ styles are no more than parodies as there is no such thing as formal history. Post-modernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific or objective efforts to explain reality. As it “stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand it’s own particular and personal reality” (Westerside, 2014).
To exemplify this, we looked at Gobsquad’s production of Kitchen (You’ve Never Had It So Good) (2007). This production saw a restaging, or rather a live re-filming of three Andy Warhol projects : Kitchen, Sleep, & Screen Test.
Kitchen (You’ve Never Had It So Good) typifies the stance Post-modern art makers utilise of borrowing and recycling, re-invigorating historical forms (in this case 60s Warhol culture). “Gob Squad’s Kitchen becomes a journey back in time and back to the future again”(Gob Squad, 2014). Re-examing current works of art, disecting and toying with each aspect of them, providing a current contextual examination of an event from a different time. This is the work of Post-modernists.
What is also worth highlighting is that the Post-modern is not only specific to performance, among others, we have seen Post-modern evidence in architecture. The construction of mock-Tudor houses for example. A building with no heritage of the Tudor period, yet designed in the same way. Or otherwise in music when you hear a current artist covering a hit from the sixties or seventies, borrowing perhaps only the lyrics of an original song, but changing the musical accompaniment entirely.
Works Cited
Arens, Katherine (1991) ‘Robert Wilson: Is Postmodern Performance Possible?’ Theatre Journal, Vol. 43 (1). pp. 14-40.
Gob Squad (2014) ‘Gob Squad Archive – Kitchen’ [online] Gobsquad.com, Available At: http://www.gobsquad.com/projects/gob-squads-kitchen-youve-never-had-it-so-good. [Accessed: 03/11/2014].
Westerside, Andrew (2014) ‘Week Two – The Post-modern’ [lecture] Current Issues in Drama, Theatre and Performance. University of Lincoln. 1st October.